Cowboys and Indians and Dangerous Storm Today… oh my!

Last night I drove to Lakewood to get copies of the new Cowboys and Indians issue, the one with my article about DeForest Kelley’s career in westerns in it (the NOV-DEC issue).

 

It looks good. An editor did some very minor tweaking that doesn’t thrill me, but what was done doesn’t tick me off, either, which is good. I expect editors to return my copy for final review when they edit something in a major way. These edits were minuscule, and I understood them well enough, although I didn’t necessarily agree that they made the piece stronger.

 

Nevertheless, I’m pleased, and it’s good to have a feature article in a high-profile magazine again. I’ve neglected that part of my legacy. I want to do more feature writing moving forward.

 

I got the magazine last night because today at noon the Pacific NW is scheduled to get hit by the largest storm front in its history, and that cannot be good… and people should not be on the road…so I wanted to nab some copies before they were out of reach (perhaps for days if we lose power across western Washington) or sold out.

 

More about the incoming storm

 

The Columbus Day storm decades ago was a real killer, destroying property, people and animals in unprecedented ways. This incoming storm looks to be “bigger and badder” than that. It’s a combination one-two knockout punch, consisting of a warm, low-pressure system and a freaking typhoon (which is downright unheard of in this part of the world). There is a 50/50 chance it will happen, up from a one-in- three chance a day or so ago. It might veer north to Seattle and Everett, or it might broadside the whole state.

 

Jackie and I happen to reside in a relatively “protected” area of the state–Tacoma/Puyallup–and where we are, we’re miles away from Puget Sound and more than 60 miles from Pacific beaches (maybe not as the crow flies, but as roads go).

 

But we got a brief “feel” of what might happen for a few hours yesterday. Large branches (as big as small trees) snapped off our two tallest trees–trees that, should they fall, can easily smash to the ground some of my goat fences and/or hit a corner of our house (just the tips of the trees would hit the house) if they happen to fall exactly wrong.

 

If they fall another way, they could hit our neighbor’s home. Our neighbor is at one of her daughter’s homes right now in another state, thankfully. But the two trees I’m talking about may  be on her property, actually. She gave me permission to fence that area and run goats, but she owns at least fifteen feet of the property on our side of her wood fence, so they may well be her trees. I hope we never have to find out whose they are. I hope they stay put and behave themselves. (Yes! The goats and chickens are well out of harm’s way. Their shed is located on the opposite end of our property from the trees I’m talking about, and when the weather is bad, they hang out in the shed. Goats hate high winds and being wet!)

 

The two trees we’re most concerned about are very deeply-rooted in place. Yesterday during the worst of the precursor storm, I went out to see if I could see any rocking going on in the earth that supports them, and it looked very solid. When a tree is about to fall –as opposed to snapping off or in half– its roots will lift and “rock” the ground that supports it. None of that was happening at all yesterday during the worst of the precursor storm, so I feel pretty secure that, although the tops of the trees may snap or break off (that would be GOOD as long as they don’t take out a fence when they fall), they are very unlikely to fall down and cause even greater damage…

 

At any rate, we’re prepared with canned and packaged food, bottles of water, candles, lamps and extra blankets, the whole nine yards in case we lose power for several days. Yesterday our lights flickered during the worst of the storm, but we didn’t lose power. If the storm hits here, it’s likely we will–and perhaps for several days because millions of other people will probably lose power, too, and the crews will be servicing more heavily-populated areas than ours before they can get to us, in all likelihood…

 

So here we sit. Right now it feels like we’re in the eye of a hurricane–in the calm before the storm. It’s raining only slightly. It’s overcast. But the clouds aren’t black and angry-looking (yet!) or roiling and moving fast. (They were yesterday!) So all is well as I write this…

 

I’ll keep you posted!

 

 

UPDATE: We lost power for all of one hour. All is well here. Looks like we dodged a bullet this time! Very relieved and grateful!